Lot 131: John Ferguson Weir, 1841-1926, Portrait of Miss Jessie King, Signed John F. Weir pinxit and dated 1875, l.r., oil on canvas, 36" x 29" (frame: 46

John Ferguson Weir, 1841-1926, Portrait of Miss Jessie King, Signed John F. Weir pinxit and dated 1875, l.r., oil on canvas, 36" x 29" (frame: 46 7/8" x 39 7/8"). Provenance: Commissionied by Cornelius King, Bellows Falls, H. Bittner & Co., New York (October 1950) Exhibited: New York, National Academy of Design, 1878, no. 437 (as Miss Janet King) According to a review in the New York Evening Post, most likely in conjunciton with the exhibition of this painting at the National Academy of Design, a critic wrote: Among the portrait pictures was a three-quarter length likeness of "Miss Jessie King" from the easel of John F. Weir. The young lady, clad in a picturesque walking costume, is standing in the woods beside a green boulder, upon which her hands rest. The drawing is gracefully executed, and every detail of the work is painted with rare skill and taste. In the manipulation of the flesh tints there is a freshness of color and clearness of tone which are not only life like, but cleverly suggestive of the youth and beauty of the subject. The sitter was the niece of prime minister of France, Henry Waddington (1826-94)who in addition to his various public service positions (minister of foreign affairs, minister of public instruction) was an achaeologist.

19th century Victorian period oil on canvas, portrait of a beautiful young woman elegantly dressed.